Photos: Surfing Norway in Sub-Zero Temperatures

Agence France-Press photographer Olivier Morin recently spent time with surfers on the beaches of Norway’s Lofoten Islands. Above the Arctic Circle, men and women were taking surf lessons in snowstorms on Unstad Beach, with air temperatures dropping to around 9 degrees Fahrenheit (-13 degrees Celsius). As day turned to night, some surfers stayed behind to witness the northern lights, with a few even venturing to paddleboard under the bright night skies. Morin photographed several days of surfing, capturing these beautiful scenes of sunshine, snowfall, surfing, sunsets, and the aurora borealis.

Surfboards lay on a beach before a surf lesson in Unstad on March 10, 2018, as the air temperature dropped to 9 degrees Fahrenheit (-13 degrees Celsius) and the ocean water temperature reached 39 degrees Fahrenheit (4 degrees Celsius).#

Nils Nilsen, 26, an employee in a fishing factory, poses in front of arctic cod in Henningsvaer, in Norway's Lofoten Islands, on March 6, 2018. Nilsen, a fishing factory employee, said: "Surfing to me is peace of mind, quiet inside my head. One focus, that's it. Of course it's challenging yourself, I guess. Whatever the season, if I have the time, I'm in the water. I have been to Portugal a couple of times, up and down the coast."#

Snowmelt and last week’s “bomb cyclone” have overwhelmed rivers in Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri, and neighboring states, causing widespread flooding that has broken dozens of records and cost at least three lives.